Labor’s housing targets slip further from reality

In October 2025, housing minister Clare O’Neil proclaimed on Twitter (X) that “for the first time in a decade, new homes are being built faster”, that “the only way to make homes more affordable is to build more of them”, and “we’re doing exactly that”:

However, the latest dwelling completions data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that only 173,400 homes were completed in the year to March 2026, 66,600 (28%) fewer than the National Housing Accord’s annual target of 240,000 dwellings a year.

In fact, over the first 21 months of the National Housing Accord, 112,400 fewer homes have been constructed than the target, representing a 27% shortfall.